^3 THE INSECT WORLD. 



all motion, and cannot any longer ekher lengthen or shorten or 

 rlllatp or contract itself. Life seems to have left it. it woulQ oe 

 conid ed a^Lle," says Reaumur, "if we were told there was 

 anv kind of quadruped of the size of a bear, or of an ox, which at a 

 certam time of the year, the beginning of winter for instance, dis- 

 en.a"es it elf completely from iti skin, of which it makes a box of 

 an^ova form ; tha^t it shuts itself up in this box ; that it knows 

 Tow to cLe'it in every part, and besides that a knows hc^^ 

 strentrthen it in such a manner as to preserve itself from the ettects o- 

 the an ai d the attacks of other animals. This prodigy is presented 



o u^on a small scale, m the metamorphosis of our larva. It casts . 

 its skin to make itself a strong and well-closed dwelling. ^ \ 



If one opens these cocoons only twenty-four hours after the 

 metamo phoses of the worms, no vestige of those parts appeitammg 

 Ta Duoa is to be found. But four or five days afterwards, the 



"ocooH occupied by a white pupa provided with al the parts o a 

 flv The lees and wings, although enclosed in sheaths, are very 

 dfstinct these sheaths being so thin that they do not conceal then. 

 The tra^k of the fly rests on the thorax ; one can discern its lips, and 



fee case which encloses the lancet. The head is large and wel 



ormXits large, compound eyes being very distinct^ The wings 



pK t i^TX^ iiuJ:i^di;amite%';;iri; 



'"^^Ne'^irrit "'Sanded trmummy should aw^ke arid when 



^:Z.^ ^^gtr'^^roil^'HTeTport^wo^^^ 

 AltS its coverings are thin, it is a -"siderable work for tl^ 

 insect to emerge, for each of its exterior parts is enclosed in them as 

 S a case much he same as a glove fits tightly to all the fingers ol 

 the S. But that for which the most strength is necessary is the 

 operation of forming the opening of the cocoon, in which as a.j 



"'" The^ fl^lw? coL:" tfat the same end of the -oon tbat ,s " 

 at tl end where its head is placed, and also where the head of the 

 larva nreviously was. This end is composed of two parts— ot two 

 half CUPS placed one against the other. These can be detached from 

 each oherand from the rest of the cocoon. It is sufficient for the 

 flv lat one can be detached, and m order to effect this, it employ 

 a most astoni hing means. It expands and contracts its head 

 alte^na ely as by dilatation ; and thus pushes the two half cup 

 away from the end'of the cocoon. This is not long able to resist the 



